We won last year.  These teams should fear us.

 

Took the words right out of my mouth. I guarantee you the fans of their respected teams list us as their #1 scared threat to beat. Hands down. It's great that we have a problem like this cause were basically saying who COULD beat us. Which team can have a chance whereas they are saying "We have to beat the sox to win" (unless your one of the players cough.. Dmitri Young... cough)

BUMP

 

Some of these predictions are funny to read 3 months later.

BUMP

 

Some of these predictions are funny to read 3 months later.

 

Nobody knew Liriano would be this sick.

 

To me, the only thing that is funny is how much the Tribe has underachieved. They had a ton of potential coming into the season, and have been brutal.

 

Easily the most dissapointing team to this point.

At the beginning of the season I feared the Twins most. Their struggles perplexed me a bit but they have definitely righted their ship and are now only 6.5 back in the WC. I still fear them far more than Detroit because of their dominating lefties and sound fundamentals. I just hope that Detroit doesn't put a hurt on the Sox the next three days and make me eat these words.

Twins by far. I've said this a lot but the Tigers will be tucked away in 4th by the allstar break, they won't finish within 15 games of the Sox.

 

you gotta love predictions.

 

seriously, i figured the tiggers would have fallen to at least 3rd by now.

I still fair dem pesky Indians, they're laying in the weeds right now just plotting their takeover of the AL Central.

I still fair dem pesky Indians, they're laying in the weeds right now just plotting their takeover of the AL Central.

That's where my bragging rights come from this year I guess. I knew Cleveland would suck...

Cleveland's pitching has been a lot worse than I expected. Their starters have actually been somewhat competent (although I thought Lee would be better), but the bullpen has been brutal. I didn't expect that much of a dropoff from last year.

 

The Twins still don't really scare me in the long run. They really only have four competent pitchers (Santana, Liriano, Nathan, and Rincon), and their offense still isn't that strong even with Morneau stepping up. I really hope we don't have to win games late in the year with Santana and Liriano on the mound though.

 

I really didn't think the Tigers pitching would hold up this long. I still don't see it lasting the rest of the year. Rogers seems to be starting his slide, I still don't know how Robertson's ERA is as low as it is with that WHIP, and Maroth and Miner don't really scare me. That said, I think we can stop expecting Verlander to fall off, and Bonderman looks legit. They aren't going anywhere, although they can't keep winning at quite this good a rate.

 

I still think we can beat them all if we hit our stride. Our offense is much improved, and I think our pitching will get better. Cliff can't hurt us anymore, and I think our starters can finish well (outside of Garcia, I don't have much faith in him). Hopefully that happens.

Right now its the Tigers. They seem to be the real deal and now they have a decent lead on us. We need to buckle down and gain some ground on them. Im glad we have a bunch of games left with them because I think we are better then them heads up. The Twins would be second. They might become contenders again soon.

I really didn't think the Tigers pitching would hold up this long. I still don't see it lasting the rest of the year. Rogers seems to be starting his slide, I still don't know how Robertson's ERA is as low as it is with that WHIP, and Maroth and Miner don't really scare me. That said, I think we can stop expecting Verlander to fall off, and Bonderman looks legit.

Verlander i still think is something of a question mark, simply because he's never thrown anywhere near as many innings as you throw in a ML season. Especially if the playoffs hit.

Edited July 17, 200619 yr by Balta1701

Verlander i still think is something of a question mark, simply because he's never thrown anywhere near as many innings as you throw in a ML season. Especially if the playoffs hit.

Most of their pitching is still a question mark for the 2nd half of the season. Bonderman and Rogers have been notorious for being bad in the 2nd half of seasons. Verlander has never thrown over 130 innings before. Nate Robertson is Nate Robertson and Miner has been good but when is Maroth coming back? And can Miner keep this up when he goes through the league again?

Wow did my predictions suck (see my sig bet). Yikes. Only teams I was close on were the Twins and us. I was dead wrong on the other three.

Haha, I saw this thread and thought it was new. I was thinking that the person who started it had to be retarded to still think the Indians were any good.

I guess my hesitation about Detroit, as good as they are, is that they seem poised for a big fall. Maybe not, but that's been the sense at least on this board.

 

Cleveland I would never count out after last year; they're weird. Either we totally own them in a series or they own us; it goes back and forth.

 

I still stick with Minnesota because of the killer 1-2 punch of Santana/Liriano and they have tons of experience winning the central. Plus they're on a roll.

 

But you're right; no longer are we the Comedy Central.

MULHOLLAND WILL PUT THE TWINS OVER THE TOP

I think, what we saw with the Tigers and Royals, is the Expected Fall of Their Pitching. If they'd been playing any team aside from KC, they'd have dropped three of four.

 

We're primed to take them down, and then they're headed for some trouble, IMO.

Verlander i still think is something of a question mark, simply because he's never thrown anywhere near as many innings as you throw in a ML season. Especially if the playoffs hit.

 

The only problem with that is even if his ERA goes up a full run it's still a pretty solid 3.83. No, I don't think he'll keep pitching quite that well, but he's been dominant enough that I don't think you can call him a fluke. Plus I'd think he'd be their 5th starter for the playoffs, meaning he might pitch out of the pen. That'd be a bit of a boost actually with his stuff.

I don't really fear any other team. The only thing I fear is our pitchers not getting it together. If we play up our abilities, no one can match us.

Verlander has never thrown over 130 innings before.

 

I really think this notion is nothing more than a wishfully thinking urban legend.

 

Look at the early career numbers of Smoltz, Buehrle, Halladay, Mussina, Schilling, Clemens, Johnson, Maddux...

 

They ALL saw their ERA drop during the season when they received their first big jump in innings pitched. None of them experienced a quantifiably negative effect from the increase in innings pitched...and that fact makes it difficult for me to understand why most just assume that Verlander will all of the sudden fall apart if he pitches 200 innings this year. It's not like he has an unrefined 20 year old arm. The guy has an amazingly smooth and developed delivery for a 23 year old.

 

IMHO it's Liriano whose herky-ish, higher effort delivery seems primed for a late season swoon...not the butter that Justin has been dealing.

Edited July 18, 200619 yr by JackTalkThai

I fear both the Tiggers and the Twinks. But the reason I fear the Twinks more ...............

The SOX and Tiggers are going to continue winning, but the Twinkies are going to play the Spoiler role

and beat us down the stretch .......... costing us the division & the wild card. I hope Im terribly wrong,

but SOX have the hardest schedule now the rest of the way, and the fact we couldve/shouldve been leading the division by this point, but somehow are 4.5 games back is disheartening. The Twinks seemingly are poised to be the thorn in the SOX side, while I dont see anyone doing the same with the Yankees.

 

Its good that Stewart & Hunter are hurt (wow, I said I was glad), because it helps the SOX for sure .....

but this team cant afford any more 3 gm losing streaks

Until the Tigers can beat us, i have no fear of them. We have done nothing but kick them around and we play them 13 more times.

Until the Tigers can beat us, i have no fear of them. We have done nothing but kick them around and we play them 13 more times.

 

I recalled the first two series being much more competitive than that.

 

Sure a win is a win but one run games, kicking a team around they are not.

 

Fact is, Detroit has to win just one game this series and they will be in excellent shape.

I really think this notion is nothing more than a wishfully thinking urban legend.

 

Look at the early career numbers of Smoltz, Buehrle, Halladay, Mussina, Schilling, Clemens, Johnson, Maddux...

 

They ALL saw their ERA drop during the season when they received their first big jump in innings pitched. None of them experienced a quantifiably negative effect from the increase in innings pitched...and that fact makes it difficult for me to understand why most just assume that Verlander will all of the sudden fall apart if he pitches 200 innings this year. It's not like he has an unrefined 20 year old arm. The guy has an amazingly smooth and developed delivery for a 23 year old.

 

IMHO it's Liriano whose herky-ish, higher effort delivery seems primed for a late season swoon...not the butter that Justin has been dealing.

 

Those guys were brutal their first year and didn't get a full workload as a starter, so I don't see why that applies. Not one of them cracked 100 innings in their first year. I could just as easily point to Dontrelle Willis or Kerry Wood, and those comparisons are a lot more valid. There's a big difference between pitching 130 in the minors and 200+ in the majors, not as much when you're already in the majors and increasing your workload. Plus you have the added pressure of a playoff push, so who knows how he'll hold up.

 

I'm not saying that he's going to suddenly suck, but expecting him to pitch this well all year with no bumps in the road the rest of the way is seriously optomistic.

 

Also, Liriano has about 24 fewer innings under his belt and hasn't been worked as a starter the whole year.

I fear the White Sox most, specifically the pitching. The offense is carrying the team. Fine for regular season, not so good for postseason. The pitching needs to get it going a week ago.